[Hummingbird]

i've allways used photoshop for most of my work,and used to all the tools
and know what they do "well most of the time" but now i'm starting to use
cs2 illustrator more and i'm learning new things,and catching on to things
quite quick,if i don't know how to do a certain thing in illustrator then i take
the image into photoshop and try and do it there
i'm having problems using the erase tool in illustrator,this is causing me problems as i cannot seem to erase the backgrounds from a image i have imported from photoshop,their ain't no magic eraser that i know of,unlike photoshop which i use so much.

i erase the background of a image e.g take the white background away from the black of the image,then import it into illustrator,but the background come's back up again,when i try to use the erase pencil i draw around what i what to erase but then nothing happens,it's most likely something so easy.
any help would be good